Recycle Your Banana Peels

Top view of yellow banana peel isolated on blue, colorful background

So, I love to save and repurpose a lot of the food scraps that I use. I’m not quite ready to set up a composting system at my house right now (I’ll wait until I move into my urban farm!), but some of the things I like to save are my coffee grounds, eggshells, and banana peels. Banana peels are one of the best things you can use to fertilize your plants with. Bananas contain potassium and calcium which your plants love! So after experimenting with a few methods, I’ve put together a list of different ways you can use your leftover banana peels:

The Easiest. Just bury the whole banana peel into your garden!

You can chop the peels into little pieces and bury them into your smaller potted plants. (And NO, they do not attract bugs! I was thinking the same thing, decomposing, sweet, banana peels in my houseplants? I learned they’re actually a natural insect repellent...)

Brew a nutrient-rich tea to water your plants with. Place the peels in any glass jar/jug that you have, and fill the jar with water until the peels are fully submerged. Then letting it stew for 2 days. Use the tea to water your plants!

You can then use the leftover peels in your soil. I also read that placing your chopped peels just below the soil line can deter aphids. I’ll definitely be trying this method on my next tomato plant! I had an aphid infestation with my last vegetable garden, and I literally cried when I had to give up and trash my crops.

You can mix the tea with some eggshell powder(easy recipe to make your own coming soon), and use as a fertilizer spray.

If you want to take it a step further, you can ferment the banana peels. Instead of brewing your banana tea for 2 days, you’re going to let it sit for about a week. I was feeling adventurous when I tried this recipe, but it definitely smelled and I don’t know if it really made a difference in my plants. So I’ll probably not be using this method often, but this concoction is said to be amazing for blooming plants!

We go through at least three bananas a day in my house, 7 eggs, and 1 pot of coffee. And that’s just appetizers in my house (The coffee is all me). So needless to say, I have a lot of natural fertilizer for my plants, and it’s really so easy to do! My son is really into it too now and loves to help me with my garden. I just save everything in mason jars on my indoor plant shelf in my kitchen until I’m ready to use them. I know in my house, we have A LOT of food waste, so I like to recycle and conserve as much as possible. I also love regrowing fruits and veggies from scraps most people throw away. Right now I have a pineapple that looks like it’s about to bloom, some ginger, a sweet potato, and I’m waiting for my avocado seed to sprout! Being able to grow my own food, and recycle the food that I buy literally makes me giddy LOL! I hope you guys try these methods, and I’ll be sharing more tips and tricks soon!